Kelly Sparks - Friend of the Week
Kelly's What — "EL VY, the new project from heartthrob Matt Berninger of my favorite band The National and Brent Knopf of Ramona Falls and Menomena. EL VY’s album Return To The Moon puts me over the moon. The lyrics have numerous references to Cincinnati, Ohio, where both Matt and I grew up and attended art school at the same time. Yet sadly we never met."
Kelly Sparks is a designer, stylist, and fashion industry veteran whom Amy & I fell in love with when we all worked together at Joyus. Kelly has the best eye in the business and makes everything and everyone around her more beautiful. She only styles a few clients a year. If you want to get on her radar, tweet at her here.
Friend of the Week: 11 Questions
1. Where do you live? At the top of a hill, up a long gravel driveway, surrounded by giant redwoods.2. How do you spend your days? Right now, I am an organizing freak. If I’m not helping a client with their personal wardrobe, I’m helping my family of four settle into our new life. Moving from our tiny San Francisco home that was busting at the seams to a larger yet much more rustic house has been more work than I ever imagined.3. If you could have any one in the world as a dinner guest, who would it be? I am way too “mature” to be a groupie but it would have to be Matt Berninger of The National and El Vy. He could earn his dinner by serenading me with his beautiful baritone voice as I sipped champagne.4. What's the weirdest thing you do (or eat)? “Weird” is subjective. I’m eclectic and a bit kooky but I can’t call anything I do truly weird.5. What do you wonder about? I wonder a lot about what my kids are going to be like when they grow up. I had no idea when I was young that I would end up who I am today.6. If you had a superpower what would it be? ESP so I could know exactly what people were thinking.7. What do you value most in a friendship? Loyalty.8. What's the most awkward accidental text or email you've ever sent or received?At one of my first fashion design jobs at a large company, I sent an overzealous e-mail congratulating a graphic design contractor that I had hired on a design job well done. He immediately forwarded that email to my boss claiming that this was proof that he deserved more money. Negotiations were rocky. I felt badly for him, and also badly for me.9. What is too serious to be joked about? Breast cancer. My mother is currently going through chemotherapy, another dear person in my family has it, and my mother-in-law died of breast cancer when she was young.10. What is the most inspiring thing you've seen or read recently? I read a great quote by painter Richard Colman in Juxtapoz magazine describing the importance of time when making art. The more time spent, the more refined the result. Yet, the viewer can’t see the time. They just see “orange,” but the artist may have mixed that orange hundreds of times to get that particular shade. This inspired me not only about getting back into design, but also gave me a new perspective on getting older. Through repetition and practice I am not just getting older, I am getting better.11. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Exactly where I belong.